Home Style Guides: Victorian Architecture

There are few more immediately identifiable housing designs than the Victorian-style house. Romantic, with a slightly mysterious history that hints of drama, it’s no wonder that this housing style has captured the hearts of homeowners and Hollywood alike for generations. 

What is a Victorian-style house? What are the design features and elements of this iconic style? What are the subtypes that emerged from Victorian house design? How can you replicate this style with your new build?  

NewHomeSource takes a look at the Victorian-style home’s past and design secrets, as well as its role in popular culture, movies and books. 

The History of Victorian Homes 

Victorian architecture emerged during Queen Victoria’s reign in England from 1837 to 1901. The American Victorian period of home design ranges from 1840 to 1900. 

Notably, this housing type was propelled by the advances made during the Industrial Revolution, with tech and processes creating the framework for mass production and distribution of building materials.  

Materials that were hard to come by in the past became more affordable and more accessible. Architects took full advantage of these changes to add liberal amounts of ornamentation and detailing to home designs, along with their own creative flourishes. 

Easy access to materials facilitated the over-the-top approach that reflected the social ideals of the time, where the upper classes viewed housing as a status marker, embracing the ‘more is more’ mantra. In architectural and design terms, this meant larger footprints, more rooms, and more ornate details. 

In short, the wealthier you were, the more ornate your home was.  

What Are the Design Features of a Victorian-Style  House? 

Multiple, Boxy, Purpose-Specific Rooms

These homes were not about having the most efficient and functional  floor plan. Rather rooms upon rooms were dedicated to various functions, often divided by gender or class. 

Utilitarian areas towards the rear of the house were for servants to work and live, and a series of rooms at the front of the home were dedicated to the owner's social lives: the parlor, billiards lounge, dining room, music room, library, and more. Some would be gender-divided for the purposes of courting. 

These social influences resulted in a myriad of small, boxy rooms connected with long hallways. A Victorian-style home typically was two, three or even four stories (including attic space). 

Heavy Ornamentation 

Whether you’re thinking of the haunted house look of Gothic Revival Victorian homes or the cottage-like comfort of Folk-Victorians, the intricate trim around entryways, windows, and along rooflines is hard to miss.  

As mentioned above, these homes were built in a way that made it clear to neighbors and visitors how much money someone had; in addition to sheer size, this was also expressed in the extensive detailing of decoration. 

The ornamentation continued inside with rich, dark woods and trim, ceiling medallions, opulent fireplaces and intricate plaster moldings. 

Porches 

Another common feature among Victorian-style  homes is the inclusion of a porch, whether slightly recessed at the main entrance as a portico, or a wide wraparound.  

Tall Features 

Looking at Victorian-era homes, you’ll notice lots of columns, highly placed windows, and turrets or towers. These touches encourage the eye to naturally travel upward when viewing the home, aiding in the larger-than-life vibe. 

Bright and Unique Exterior Colors 

The Industrial Revolution produced significant discoveries, chemical pigmentation in paint being one of them. As a result, it became very common for Victorian homes to be painted a wide range of colors, adding to the overall visual effect. 

Asymmetrical Facades 

The Victorian housing style typically uses an asymmetrical design, with windows of varying sizes and shapes, interrupted roof lines, porticos, cupolas, and full wings of rooms extending off in various directions.  

Widow’s Walk 

This is a fenced-in platform built into the home’s roofline, often with a cupola or turret. This were most common on the Eastern Seaboard, where wives would await their fishermen and seamen husbands to return from the sea.  

What Are the Types of Victorian Homes?

For more specifics on each style, here’s a quick rundown of the various subtypes of the Victorian-style house. 

Eastlake

Inspired by designer Charles Eastlake, these homes are demurer than some of their Victorian counterparts. The ornamentations are airier and lighter, driven by Eastlake’s focus on moving away from ostentatious designs in favor of visually appealing items. 

Folk Victorian

These are a common sight in the United States, in part because they were designed as the cost-friendly option of Victorian- style homes for everyday homeowners. With simple trim, gabled roofs, and dormers, Folk Victorian houses are picturesque cottage homes. 

Gothic Revival

The home you picture when a story begins with, “On a dark and stormy night” is probably a Gothic Revival Victorian. This classic haunted house aesthetic features ornamental cornices (exterior crown molding) and tall, pointed windows. And while it’s not a requirement, no Gothic Revival is complete without an ominous turret to give it a distinct profile. 

Italianate

Want a Victorian home that’s less Victorian and more Italian villa? These rectangular or square homes are more flat-faced than their peers and have a much more balanced appearance compared to the asymmetry present in other Victorian-era houses. 

Octagonal

Octagonal Victorians are easily identified by their – you guessed it – octagonal shape. These eight-sided homes tend to have low, hipped roofs and a partial or full wraparound porch. 

Queen Anne

Queen Anne Victorian-style homes are seen today as the quintessential Victorian style homes, even though they became popular later during the era. They are exceptionally ornate with bay windows and turrets, in addition to delicately designed trim along the porch and balconies. 

Richardsonian Romanesque

Stately and castle-like, Richardsonians are often made of stone or brick with at least one tower. They’re sturdy but retain the whimsical nature of Victorian homes with their asymmetrical façades. Perhaps the most well-known example of this style isn’t a home, but rather, Trinity Church in Boston. 

Second Empire

Easy to spot with their Mansard, boxy roofs, Second Empire homes are fairly similar in design to Italianate style. Their flat-faced façades are curved at the top to form the square Mansard roof for which they are known. While asymmetrical, they’re not as unbalanced as most of the other styles. 

Shingle

Despite what their name leads you to believe, Shingle Victorian homes are made from other materials, not just shingles. Shingles actually stand out for their simplicity. Turrets, bay windows, and large porches might all be included, but the minimalism of their design makes this housing style more subtle. 

Stick Victorian

Stick Victorians feature diagonal, horizontal, and vertical planks that are laid over the exterior walls. Pair this design with gabled roofs and wraparound porches and it’s easy to see how Sticks are one of the more statement-making Victorian homes. 

Can you Build A Victorian-Style House in a New Build Development? 

While a Victorian-style house is defined by a period in architectural history, it’s easy to replicate the features with a new build, if this is your favorite style. 

Many homeowners embrace the romance of the Victorian style but alter it slightly to suit modern-day living. 

Design the exterior with bay windows, turrets, gables and ornate details. Embrace a varied color palette, as true Victorian-style homes do, but be mindful of your streetscape and the rest of the homes. You want your home to sensibly mesh with other homes but be prominent in an understated way. 

Inside, a true Victorian home would eschew the open-concept floor plan, with many, boxy rooms joined by long corridors. However, today’s homeowners elect open concept for a number of reasons, including wide-open sightlines and smart use of space, helpful for busy, multi-tasking families.  

It’s possible to balance the best of both worlds. One of the guiding principles of Victorian-style design is that each room had to have a purpose. You can embrace that philosophy without erected walls to communicate intent for the room’s design. For example, you can define zones within an open-concept area to specific tasks, using furniture, half-walls or pocket doors.  

Or you can cluster open-concept spaces with a series of auxiliary spaces that are closed off, such as a den, formal dining room, and a scullery or butler pantry, letting you benefit from the space inherent with open concept, while employing the design sensibilities from Victorian design.  

What Kind of Furniture and Interior Decor Goes Best in a Victorian-Style Home? 

To decorate your new Victorian-style house, the interior should be as ornate as the exterior. 

For an authentic Victorian look, vintage or antique-looking furniture is a must. 

Colors, textures and scale of furnishings most definitely lean towards maximalism, with brocade upholstery, jacquard, lace, toile, and velvet mixed in with rich woods.  

Think tufted sofa, with pronounced, curved arms and feet, covered in a patterned, upholstered fabric. A dining table is likely Cherry or some other dark wood with undertones, and may be elegantly curved, with stately, thick and ornately carved legs.  

Wood paneling, and wood trim, with carved details are common features.  

In terms of lighting, more is more, with splashy, shiny chandeliers and sconces, with crystal, silver, brass, and gold. An ornate ceiling medallion around the chandelier is another authentic touch. 

Bay windows are a prominent feature in Victorian-style homes, typically dressed in heavy window treatments. Mullions or stained glass are decorative additions. 

Artwork is heavy, with oil-based (or oil-looking) landscapes and portraits.  

Color palettes are dark and moody, contributing to the overall dramatic feel of the architecture.  

Victorian-Style Homes and Ghost Stories 

Victorian-style homes are not just famous for their beautiful facades and storied history; they are also well-known for their “darkitecture”. 

Take a moment and think about your favorite ghost story or scary movie. What housing type is central to the plot? Chances are you are envisioning a Victorian-style home, with turrets, cobwebs, dark corners and bats in the belfry. 

This may be a product of popular culture, where numerous scary movies and stories typically take place, but other things have happened along the evolution of this housing style over history that give it its haunted reputation. 

When Victorian-style homes were introduced in the 19th century, they were a status symbol for the wealthy class, but in the decades that followed, came a shift in classes and economic downturn. 

As the years passed, these opulent homes represented class division for many and were looked at unfavorably and suspiciously by the middle classes, in part what provided impetus for the housing style movement that followed: the down-to-earth and woodsy Craftsman. 

As a product of the economic downturn, many of these homes fell into disrepair. The grand turrets were dilapidated, bay windows were broken, and colorful siding had peeling paint. Inside, cobwebs abounded, with hard-to-reach ceiling design.  

Victorian-style houses have long hallways, making it harder to see around corners. Antique furnishings are typical, kept in low light for practical, preservation purposes. There are small, dark attics behind those gabled roofs and dormers. Widow's walks are common, perhaps where lonely souls pace, waited for their spouse to come home. 

It was common to be interested in spirituality during the Victorian era, with some growing interest in the occult. It wasn’t uncommon for homeowners to convert a parlor (what we would now refer to as the living room) into a seance room, suggesting that spirits may lurk behind. 

When you couple the suspicious aura of the housing style, with some physical features that can be spooky, the “haunted” reputation emerges. 

Hollywood has reinforced this stereotype, with several scary (or at least ghost-themed) movies and videos over the years having a Victorian home play a central role, from Beetlejuice,  the Addams Family, Michael Jackson’s Thriller Video, Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak, and Disney’s Haunted Mansion to name a few.